SEC. 3.-THEIR EXEMPTION FROM SERVING OFFICES.

Coroners are exempt from serving offices which are inconsistent with the duties of coroner, and are not liable to be summoned as jurors. And they are exempted from being elected, or appointed, members of a municipal council, or to any other municipal office in Ontario.2

3

In Manitoba, coroners are exempted from serving on grand and petty juries, and from being elected, or appointed, members of the municipal council or to any municipal office.*

SEC. 4.-THEIR PRIVILEGE FROM ARREST.

The same principle which exempts judges and officers of the superior courts from arrest while executing their judicial duties, seems to apply to coroners; and in a case tried in England, Mr. Justice Gaselee expressed his opinion that this exemption extended to coroners, while going, remaining, or returning, for the purpose of taking an inquest.

SEC. 5.-AS TO THEIR OTHER RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES.

In this place it may be stated that coroners were formerly entitled in Ontario to a copy of the Provincial Statutes of each session; but under the present regulations they are not so entitled; an order in council having been passed in 1859 discontinuing the practice which had theretofore obtained, of furnishing the statutes to coroners, and a circular 1 2 Roll. Abr. 632, s. 4; F. N. B. 167; R. S. O. c. 52, s. 6. s-s 13.

2 R. S. O. c. 184, s. 78.

3 R. S. Man. c. 81, s. 3.

4 R. S. Man. c. 100, s. 55.

letter to that effect was addressed to the Clerks of the Peace in Upper Canada, on the 27th of June of that year. They ought to be furnished with lists of constables by the Clerks of the Peace, whenever ordered to be so furnished by the Justices. in General Sessions.1

A coroner, as a judge of a court of record, is not liable to a civil action for any thing done by him in his judicial capacity, if he acts indiscreetly or erroneously; and generally where there is reasonable and probable cause for the act complained of, it is of no moment whether there was malice or not.2

An action does not lie against a coroner for defamatory words spoken by him while holding an inquest.3

Trespass will not lie against a coroner for turning a man out of a room where the coroner is about to hold an inquisition.1

1 R. S. O. c. 83, sch. p. 839.

Garner v. Coleman, 19 C. P. 106.

3 Thomas v. Churton, 8 Jur. N. S. 795; 2 B. & S. 475.

4 Garnett v. Farrand, 6 B. & C. 611.

B. C.-4

No action will lie against a coroner for any act honestly done by him in his judicial capacity, but if coroners be guilty of any misconduct, either in their judicial or ministerial capacity, they are liable to be punished.1

If a coroner, after notice, do not view the body and take an inquisition in convenient time; if he conceals felonies, or is remiss in his duty through favour; if he misconducts himself in taking an inquisition; if he does not return the inquisition in proper time; or takes an inquisition without viewing the body; or if he do not reduce to writing the evidence given to the jury before them, or so much thereof as shall be material, and certify and subscribe the same, together with the recognizances and inquisitions before them taken; or in Ontario if he do not return a list of inquests held by him, together with the findings of the juries, to the provincial treasurer, on or before the first day of January in every year; or if he does not supply the

1 Jer. O. C. 93; Garrett v. Ferrand, 6 B. & C 611; Thomas v. Churton 2 B. & S. 475; Kemp v. Nevile 10 C. B. N. S. 523; Garner v. Coleman 19 C. P. 106.

2 See Form of Indictment, No. 6.

Division Registrar of the division in which a death takes place, and into the cause of which he makes inquiry, before the interment of the body, with all the particulars required to be registered; or if he wilfully and knowingly demands or receives any other or greater fee or allowance than the fee or allowance to which he is entitled; in any and all these cases he renders himself liable to punishment.1

And if a coroner neglects to discharge the duties required of him by the Dominion Act respecting Anatomy he is liable to a fine of not more than $20 for every such offence. These duties will be found stated in Chapter XII., section 8, and relate to the disposal of certain dead bodies.

Coroners in Ontario taking money to excuse any man from serving or being summoned to serve on juries may be fined.3

Coroners generally in Ontario during the time they use or exercise the ordinary duties of their office, are not qualified to be justices of the peace; and if they act as such, their proceedings are void and of no effect, and they themselves become liable to be heavily fined.*

If the body has been so long buried as to afford no information on view, a coroner will not be justified in causing it to be disinterred; and if he do so, he may be fined.5

12 H. P. C. 58; 3 Ed. I. c. 10; 1 Leach, c. L. 43; Jer. O. C. 90; R. S. O. c. 40, ss. 14-28; R. S. O. c. 83, s. 7.

2R. S. C. c. 149 as amended by 52 V. c. 24, Dom.

3 R. S. O. c. 52, s. 170.

R. S. O. c. 71, s. 8; and see p. 10; Davies v. Justices of Pembrokshire,

L. R. 7 Q. B. D. 513.

$ 2 Lev. 140,

But in some cases it is hard to say what lapse of time would destroy all information which might be obtained by disinterring the body. For instance in cases of poisoning, or when identification is important and there is any fracture of bones,1 false teeth &c.2

A coroner is not justified in delaying the inquest upon a dead body in a state of decomposition for so long a period as five days, in order that the body may be identified and buried and registered under the right name, and the mere fact that it has been placed in a mortuary can make no difference.3

A coroner is guilty of an indictable offence in taking a sum of money for not holding an inquest. Whether he has any pretense for holding the inquest or not, he is equally criminal in having extorted money to refrain from doing his office."

If a coroner inserts in the inquisition a material fact not found by the jury, he may be indicted for forgery.

By Stat. 1, Hen. VIII., justices of assize and justices of the peace within the county have power to inquire of, and punish the defaults of coroners.

In their ministerial character coroners are liable, like sheriffs in actions of debt, for an escape, case

6

1 It will be remembered that in the case of Dr. Livingstone after his body was brought to the coast by a long journey from the interior of Africa, and then by ship to England, its identity was considered proved by a peculiar and unusual false joint known to exist in one of his arms, the result of a fracture received in an encounter with a tiger.

2 See remarks on p. 18, and in c. 12, s. 1.

3 In Re Hull L. R. 9 Q. B. D. 689.